There are grandparents alive today whose parents went through a war just out of the slave trade. It's a very real situation. You don't take that shit lightly. Hip-hop and American music culture is black culture. Know your roots. Know who the fuck you're getting this music from and respect it. [On white rappers using the N word.] Show less «

In the fifth grade, I had [written] my first rhyme and it was really, you know, just gangster rap. It was pretty much influenced by Ice Cube and NWA. I was just trying to emulate them. I would have a lot of curse words, and you know, shoot you this, fuck you that. So, I was making copies in the office and the principal was like "Let me see that." He suspended me. He tried to suspend me for profanity and called my mom. My mom came up to the school and was like, "[What] the fuck do you mean suspend him? You can't suspend him for expressing himself. Look what he's surrounded by." At the time we were living in Antioch, but we were getting bussed from Antioch to downtown Nashville to this school called Carter Lawrence surrounded by projects. [There were] bars all on the windows, liquor stores, pawn shops. That's what I was looking at. [There were] drug dealers in the playground, needles on the playground, kids in fifth grade, sixth grade dealing crack during recess. As real as it gets. That's what introduced me to the street culture of hip-hop. Show less «

I would love to work with Anthony Kiedis. I think I've said that so many times. I'm just zoned in on possibly working with him. [On who he would like to work with on future projects.] Show less «

Life is a long story. Like I've said before, I've yet to write a record that defines me entirely as a person. I'm not really trying to say anything specific. I want to represent the culture. [I want to] use images of people and places and things that I've seen to make music with. Show less «

[on interviewing artists] I just think that , like, I just wish that some of the people would take it more seriously, like documenting music. It used to be so hard to get to a band. Back in the day, it was so tough. Everything today is so accessible. There's movies about great writers and people who went out and documented great artists, followed bands, and got great interviews. So, I just want them to look at it as an art and stop being so redundant. If you're interviewing an artist, I would think, at least if it was me, I would do a little research and watch some interviews that they've done before, and be sure to do something creative. Show less «